Intricate: Kitty's Story
by Felidae Silvestris
Summary: Rewrite of Intricate. Kitty's side of the story. Low-level Fuffy & Kitty/Illyana. Kennedy/Willow. Kitty has been propelled into a prominently Buffyverse dimension.
1. Prologue

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: Prologue

Disclaimer: I own neither X-Men nor Buffy.

The forest is usually the best place to train the newest of Xavier's recruits. Or should I say, Summers' and Frost's recruits, since Xavier is no longer with us? But anyway, the forest is usually the best place to train the newbies.

Logan and I had a pretty good system worked out. We'd both take the kids by surprise in the trees while Lockheed would distract them. Worked for me. Worked for Logan. We were good at this. None of the kids could take us by surprise. At least, that's what I was thinking at the moment a portal opened behind me.

Lockheed was there an instant before a strange pulling started up. I felt something pulling at me, pulling me toward the open portal. First rule when dealing with portals: Unless you know who made it, don't go near it. Too late for me, apparently.

Next thing I know, I'm in a basement, being pummeled by a blond with hazel eyes.


	2. The Scooby Gang

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: The Scooby Gang

Disclaimer: I own neither X-Men nor Buffy.

"Look, I told you, I don't know where this Faith person is!" I block left as the blonde woman swings at me. She's got some enhanced strength and speed that is a pretty close match for my training. I have to remember to thank Wolvie.

Lockheed hisses up in the rafters, declining to join in the fight.

"Like hell you don't," the blonde hisses back at me, throwing another kick at me.

"Buffy, I don't think she's lying," the redhead on the stairs tells her. Beside her leans a brunette with an angular face, brown eyes watching this Buffy and I intently. "You can't lie around a dragon."

I didn't bother to correct her about Lockheed, because she seems inclined to help me. "Come on, Buffy, listen to your friend." Buffy ignores both of us and comes at me again, rage in those hazel eyes. _All right no more Ms. Nice Guy._ I lunge at her, phasing through her, pinning her as she stumbles. "Look, I don't know who this 'Faith' is or what the hell that portal was for or why you're determined to beat me to death. So, there are two ways to do this: I let you up and we talk like civilized people or I leave you down and we'll talk as we are. Your choice."

Lockheed hisses at me again.

"Let me up," Buffy replies, clearly not happy.

"Promise not to hit me again?"

"I promise." I let her go and back off, not taking my eyes off the slight blonde. She stands gracefully, an aura of power hanging off her. Reminding me of Emma. "Buffy Summers."

"Kitty Pryde. He's Lockheed." I toss my head up in Lockheed's direction as he swoops down to rest on my shoulders.

"I'm Willow Rosenburg and this is Kennedy," the redhead interjects, stepping down from the stairs. "Our friend, Faith Lehane, was pulled through the portal you came out of."

"We just want to know where she is." Buffy steps toward me, face set.

"I have no clue where this Faith person is. She may have ended up where we were." _And she's probably getting the third degree from Scott and mind-searched by Emma._ I shift slightly, feeling rather on the spot. Strength radiates from all three of the women, reminding me of my friends, Storm and Jean in particular.

"How did you manage to jump through Buffy?" Kennedy asks, a hand on her hip. "One minute she's lunging at you and the next you're at her back."

Lockheed coos in my ear as I blush a bit. Really, the only reason I'd phased was to catch her off guard. "I, um, phased. It's a natural talent of mine."

Buffy raises an eyebrow, quite obviously disbelieving. "Natural talent?"

"Okay, so it's not so natural. Then again, neither am I. Trust me, it's infinitely complicated." Lockheed coos in agreement, folding his wings against his back, tail wrapping around my neck.

"Right. Well, at least we know she's not lying," Willow points out. "No way she could lie around dragons."

* * *

�

"So … he's not really a dragon?" Buffy's brown-haired, pale, and lanky sister was absolutely enamored with Lockheed. He, as per usual, relished the extra attention.

"Not of the mystical variety, no. But he is a dragon." I stroke Lockheed's back, trying my hardest not to appear agitated. It's not like this was a new conversation, all sorts of random people with mystical backgrounds ask about Lockheed.

Currently, Lockheed and I had seven people breathing down our necks. Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenburg, and Kennedy were there, of course, as were Buffy's sister, Dawn, the Watcher, Rupert Giles, and two friends, Xander Harris and Andrew Wells. If I could recall correctly, they called themselves the Scooby Gang. My stint watching the TV show was paying off a little, but I still had no idea how I ended up in the Buffyverse.

"You have no idea how you and Faith got switched? Or why?" Giles asks for the sixth or seventh time. I'm slowly getting very tired of this.

"Not a one. One minute, I'm helping Logan with a class in the forest and the next thing I know, Buffy's trying to beat information out of me. Oh, and there was the twirling through the portal thing. That was not exactly a walk in the park." Which reminds me… "You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?"

"Tofu or real food?" Andrew asks helpfully. I get this feeling he's the head cook around here.

I smile. "Real food for me and some raw meat for the attention whore." Lockheed glares at me as Andrew gets about gathering food. "Could anything on this side have opened the portal?"

"Only Willow," Xander replies, glancing at his friend with his one eye. "But she's been tracking Slayers, haven't you Will?"

Willow nods. "Just tracking, none of the conjuring type things. Trust me, you'd know if I had. I'd probably be all vein-y by now."

"Will Faith be okay?" Buffy's voice is quiet but hangs in the air, effortlessly making everyone else quiet. She isn't looking at anything but her hands, blond hair falling over her shoulder.

Her question, I honestly have no answer for. The worst that could happen, Emma would use Cerebra to get into Faith's head. Best-case scenario, Faith had not landed where I had been and the X-Men knew nothing about her. No, I take that back. Emma's mind-search is best. At least then the X-Men can help her.

"I'm sure she's fine, Buffy." Oh good, Giles answers for me. "After all, Faith has shown us time and time again that she can take care of herself. I'm sure she's thriving in whatever environment she's in."

"And the X-Men are good people, Buffy," Andrew pipes in from the stove. "Granted, the mansion gets destroyed every other month, but they can't exactly help that."

"Not helping, Andrew," Xander says, glaring in his direction.

"It's not so bad now," I add. "Every few years is more like it. But look, I'm sure Faith is fine. Andrew's right, the X-Men are mostly good people."

Buffy's head snaps up, eyes glittering as she looks at me. "Mostly?"

Crap. "There are a few I'm not sure about, but that's mostly just me. Childhood trauma and all that." Lockheed makes a strangled-shriek sounding noise at me. "Oh hush, dragon."


	3. Mutant

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: Mutant

Disclaimer: I own neither X-Men nor Buffy.

Okay, I think I figured out why I never moved to Nevada. Too much sun, not enough clouds. You spend one afternoon outside and you're sunburned. Like me. Red as a cooked lobster. And I just happened to be wearing a tank top, leaving my shoulders bare. Lockheed's new favorite thing to do is randomly land on my shoulders, make me hiss, and fly off again. He's also obsessed with Dawn. She's his new bestfriend, always petting him and feeding him. I'm chopped liver.

Seriously, though, Buffy and the gang have put me to work training the new Slayers that are constantly coming in. It's like training the kids at Xavier's, minus all the extra powers. At least, that's pretty much what I thought until a girl came in who was quite obviously not your average Slayer.

Her name is Kat. Ironic, I know. But the weird thing is, her skin is purple. Okay, so I wasn't that weirded out, purple skin isn't _that_ uncommon at Xavier's. Buffy and the others however… they were a little freaked. She wasn't a demon, not that they could tell. That, however, didn't stop them from doing tests.

The tests, of course, revealed that Kat was just a girl with purple skin. Well, a Slayer with purple skin. She had every Slayer trait known: prophetic dreams, enhanced strength, enhanced speed, the whole shtick. A Mutant Slayer, just what the world needs. The only thing is, if Kat's a Mutant, then the two of us aren't the only ones. Mystique, Magneto, and the Professor, or what passes for them, are probably running around somewhere.

So here's me, going into research mode. Hacking, normal searches, the mix. I come up with nothing.

Something is definitely not right here.

* * *

�

"Come on, Kat, you can do better than that." I watch Kennedy spar with Kat from the stairs.

We'd somehow managed to keep all the girls sent our way in Buffy's house and a house next door that Willow had her name on. It isn't going to work for very much longer, but Giles assures me that our new base close to Cleveland is close to being finished. Vegas isn't nearly as great as they'd thought.

Kat dodges and punches hitting Kennedy only twice in the whole barrage. Her purple skin seemed to shimmer as she sweated. Kennedy switches to offensive and is blocked by Kat's arm. She stands still as she pulls her hand back only to find that her knuckles are bloody.

"Kitty?"

I'm up and already holding Kat's arm in my hand. "Looks like you've got more than purple skin, here, Kat."

"So what the hell is it?" Kat asks, her southern accent thick without her restraining it.

"I don't know."

"It's sharp, whatever it is," Kennedy points out, holding up her rapidly healing hand. "That's the first time it's happened."

I nod, thinking of Emma's diamond mutation and Bling's diamond shards. "I think it has something to do with your sweat. It's all over."

"So I have sharp sweat? What kind of power is that?" Kat steps back and sits on one of the benches lining the basement.

"Not all mutations are pretty," I tell her. "Some people end up being so physically changed you wouldn't be able to recognize them … and some are born physically mutated, like my friend Kurt. He's blue, has two fingers and a thumb, and three toes, a long prehensile tail, yellow eyes, and fangs. Scared me to death when I met him. It's something you get used to."

"Right, but sweat?"

"Logan knew a girl once who had acidic puke."

"Eww." Both Kat and Kennedy make faces at that one. Kat swabs off her arms and hands me the towel. "Here. You figure out what my sweat's doing."

I take the towel. "I'll get Andrew to help."

"Good to know the geek's good for something," Kennedy says as she wipes blood from her hand. "I think we're done for now, Kat." She grins. "Bring me my next victim."

Kat laughs. "Kennedy, you are one sick puppy."

* * *

�

"Looks like … some kind of crystal." Andrew turns the knob on a microscope we'd managed to find.

"What kind of crystal?" I prompt, extremely bored and regretting letting him do the looking.

"Here, you look at it." Andrew pulls away and shoves the microscope in my direction.

"Thanks." I pull it closer and gaze into it. He's right, the stuff coming out of Kat's skin is some sort of crystal. "Hand me Buffy's necklace."

"This one?" He picks up a necklace that had belonged to Buffy and Dawn's mother. The gems that shine in it are supposedly diamonds. My idea is to compare the two.

I grab the necklace and replace the slide of Kat's sweat with it. The crystal matrices were identical. I pull back and rub my temples. "From now on, Kat's only going to spar with me."

"Why?"

I open my mouth to explain when Buffy steps into the room. "I heard about Kat's sweat. What is it?"

"Diamond. She's sweating diamonds." I take the necklace and hand it to her. "Dawn let me borrow that, hope it's okay?"

"Didn't hurt it?"

"Nope."

"Good. So… Kat's sweating hundreds of dollars?"

"Not really. So far, they're closer to being chips. Not in the range yet for –"

"Yet?" Andrew asks.

"Well Mutants tend to… well, mutate. As she starts to use her power more, the size of the diamonds could increase. I'll grant you, I'm no Hank McCoy, but I'm pretty sure that's what'll happen. Meanwhile, I'm going to take over her sparring lessons."

"You're not a Slayer," Buffy points out bluntly, clearly not pleased.

"No, I'm not. But when you've been in the super hero business for as long as I have, you tend to pick up a few things. I'm the second-best martial artist at the Institute next to only Wolverine. Trust me, I can handle it."


	4. The New Mutants

Title: Intricate: Kitty's story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: The New Mutants

Disclaimer: X-Men and Buffy do NOT belong to me.

One week after the move to Cleveland:

Okay, quick quiz question: What do you get when you cross a Mutant Slayer with a group of five vampires?

Answer: A total of one Mutant Slayer.

Needless to say, I'm proud of how well Kat's training has gone. In the few short weeks since we discovered her tendency to produce diamonds, Kat and I had fine-tuned her control over that production. She could now produce stakes that wouldn't break and no longer sweats diamond shards.

"Okay, now that was cool." Kat stares at her hands.

"What did you do now?" Kennedy asks, staking her own vampire.

"Watch." Kat thrusts out her hand, wrist bent at an almost ninety-degree angle with her arm. From the palm of her hand a diamond stake formed. She then pulls her arm back and the stake retracted into her hand.

Kennedy raises an eyebrow. "I officially want to be a Mutant."

"You are a Mutant," I point out. "Slayers are mutants whose powers consist of extra durability, strength, and speed." I sheathe my katana.

"Yeah but Kat can do cool things with her powers. I can't."

Kat rolls her eyes at her friend. "Seriously, Ken, being able to go toe-to-toe with vamps and demons is cool. My power's just slightly cooler." She smirks.

"Whatever."

"The cemetery's vamp free," I report. "Kat, you have everything packed for our trip this weekend, right?"

"Yes, Mom." Kat rolls her eyes.

"Where you guys going again?" Kennedy asks as the three of us head out of the cemetery and toward the new facilities Giles had set up.

"New York. I have some things I need to check out up there." I start to think of home. The Xavier Institute had always been more of a home to me than anywhere else on the planet, despite my frequent arguments with the Professor and Emma. My whole life since thirteen had been centered there.

"And I have those new Slayers to look up, according to Buffy. Seriously, though, why doesn't she just go get them herself? She looks like she needs a vacation." Kat pulls her hood up over her head to hide her purple skin as we reach the streetlights.

"She's trying to forget about losing Faith," Kennedy answers with a sage nod. "Overworking herself."

"Why's she so upset over that anyway? All I've been hearing about Faith was that she used to be evil and kill Vulcans."

This time it's Kennedy's turn to roll her eyes. "Do me a favor and stop listening to Andrew. He's got the story all wrong. Besides, Buffy's missing her lover."

Despite my slight shock at learning that Buffy and Faith had been lovers, I flash of light across the street caught my attention. The three of us turn and stare as a group of costumed people appeared. My eyes widened as I recognized Karma, Wolfsbane, Moonstar, Cannonball, Magik, Cypher, Magma, and Warlock of the original New Mutants.

* * *

�

"Oh my God…" I can't breathe. Shan, Rhane, Dani, Sam, Illyana, Doug, Amara, and Warlock are standing across the street. I can't stop staring and them and I'm suddenly glad Dawn has Lockheed with her.

"Kitty." Kat snaps her fingers in front of my face. "Kitty!"

"Huh?" I ask, dazed.

"Friends of yours?"

"Them?" I gesture at the New Mutants and then shake my head. "No. Not here, anyway."

"Well let's go introduce ourselves," Kennedy suggests, already moving toward them.

"Kennedy, no!" Despite my almost frantic motions at trying to get Kennedy to come back, she'd almost reached them.

"Hey!" Kennedy calls, waving at the group.

I see everyone look at Illyana and then at Kennedy as Kat and I hurry over. When they don't move, I take it as a good sign. At least they aren't attacking.

"Hello," Illyana Rasputin, Magik, says cautiously, peering at the Slayer.

"Hey," Kennedy repeats. "I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Cleveland."

"We were supposed to be in Texas, 'Yana," Sam Guthrie, Cannonball, points out.

"I know that," Illyana hisses before turning back to Kennedy, Kat, and I. She sticks out a hand. "I'm Magik. And these are my teammates. Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Moonstar, Cypher, Magma, Karma, and Warlock."

Kennedy raises an eyebrow. "Interesting names. I'm Kennedy and that's Kat and Kitty."

"We're –" Illyana starts.

"- X-men," I finish automatically.

The group looks at me, startled. "Who are you and how do you know that?" Illyana snaps.

"I… I'm Kitty Pryde. From… an alternate dimension. I was an X-Man there. I know a lot about you, Illyana. I dated your brother. Peter."

Illyana's face contorts into what could only be called a snarl. "Don't _ever_ mention Peter."

"Illya…" Rhane reaches out a hand to touch Illyana's arm but is shrugged off.

"We have to get to Texas," Illyana snaps. She snaps her wrist and one of her stepping-discs appears. "Come to Xavier's. The old man might listen to you. Come on, guys." She gestures to her teammates and within a few seconds, they're gone.

"That went well," Kennedy says, a frown on her face.


	5. Xavier's Institute

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: Xavier's Institute

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or Buffy.

One plane ticket to New York: over $100. One taxi from Kennedy Airport to 1407 Graymalkin Lane: more than I'd usually be willing to pay. Seeing the look on everyone's face when I managed to get Kat, Lockheed, and myself past security: priceless.

"Katherine Pryde?" Professor Xavier asks as Kat and I make our way up the front steps.

"That's me. And this is Kat." Lockheed croons in my ear, nipping at it as well. "Ow! And this scamp is Lockheed."

"Illyana told me you knew of our school, but I didn't really believe her until you walked through security." He holds out his hand. "I am Professor Charles Xavier, Co-Headmaster of this school."

I take his hand, shaking it as my eyebrows rise. "Co-Headmaster, Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Pryde. The name of the school has not changed from the days when I ran it alone."

"So who's the other Headmaster?" Kat asks.

"Headmistress, dear," a voice says from behind us. I know that voice, and as I turn, I realize that I'm right. Emma Frost stood behind us, dressed in an outfit that I knew she'd worn while teaching Generation X. She holds out a hand to me. "Miss Pryde, I must say that I'm more impressed with your performance than I had originally thought I'd be."

I glare at her. "How did you manage to take the school away from the Professor, Emma?" I snap.

Emma raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow, her eyes narrowing. "I did nothing of the sort, Miss Pryde. I merely entered into a business agreement with your precious Professor."

"Sure you did. That's why you're lording over everyone, isn't it."

Emma takes a step closer to me, so that she's towering over me. "I do not know who you think you are, Miss Pryde. But you have no idea what goes on at this school. Don't presume to know when you have only been in this dimension for a few months and out of touch with Xavier's. I don't know what I did to you that made you hate me, but you have no reason to do so."

"Now, ladies, let's not let this get out of hand," Xavier cuts in, clapping his hands. "Kat, Miss Pryde, perhaps it would be best to let Jean show you to your rooms."

"Kat can go, Professor. I know where the guestrooms are."

* * *

�

"Who does she think she is!" I pace the length of the guestroom Kat and I were sharing.

"Headmistress," Kat answers, not looking up from the brochure Emma had handed her.

"She can't just think I'll believe the crap she's feeding us! The Professor wouldn't willingly negotiate a business deal with the White Queen of the Hellfire Club. He just wouldn't!"

"I think you're overreacting. I did some research before we left and turns out, Xavier ran into some funding problems and had to turn to Miss Frost for help."

Lockheed hisses from his perch on an armchair. "But why Emma? Surely he could have found someone else to help."

"Not without outing the school. And besides, Xavier's a member of this Hellfire Club anyway. Why wouldn't he turn to a friend for help?"

I stop pacing and stare at her. "Say that again."

Kat looks puzzled. "Why wouldn't he turn to a friend for help?"

I shake my head. "No, the other thing."

"Xavier's a member of the Hellfire Club?"

"Yeah, that. Why's he a member of the Hellfire Club? It's evil."

Kat shrugs. "You think I know?" She stands up and stretches. "Look, Kitty. I understand that you're concerned, but things aren't like they were in your dimension. While you board yourself up in here 'till dinner, I'm gonna go look around. See ya." She heads out the door.

Lockheed glides over to rest on my shoulder. I stroke the head that's thrust under my chin. "Yeah. I know. This is beyond weird. I need to call Kennedy."

I plop down in an over-stuffed chair next to the phone and picked up the handset, dialing the number for Kennedy's cell-phone. The phone rings three times before Kennedy picks up.

"Hey, Kitty, what's up?"

"How'd you know it was me?" I asked, surprised because I hadn't said anything.

"Weird number. Had to be you. So what's up?"

"Everything's weird over here, Ken. It's not like it was at home," I lean back in my chair, stroking Lockheed's wings.

"You knew it was going to happen, Kit. Seriously, what'd you expect?"

"Not Emma ruling the school, that's for sure."

Kennedy laughs. "She hot?"

"Kennedy! I'm serious."

"I know. Hold on a sec." I hear her cover the phone and talk to someone on the other end. "Hey, Will needs me for something. Think we can talk later?"

I sigh. "Yeah. Sure."

"Kay. Look, I'm sure it's not as bad as you think. Give it time."

"I'll have to. Later, Ken."

"Later."


	6. Hank's Discovery

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: Hank's Discovery

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or Buffy.

Author's Note: I know nothing about DNA except that human DNA has two helixes so please pardon the totally incorrect and implausible DNA talk.

Ah, the Danger Room. Interestingly enough, the settings they've got it on are nowhere near my level. It's like they think I'm untrained. I'm jumping through hoops, crashing the pistons that are supposed to squash me, and generally killing the death machines that're supposed to be "killing" me. So I pull open the exit door on the opposite side from where I started and am greeted by a slow clapping.

"Very impressive, Miss Pryde." Emma Frost gracefully stands from the chair she'd been sitting it. "I'd say Scott had that set a little low for your standards."

"He did, even after I told him it was too low. I don't remember him being that stubborn where I'm from." I reply icily, unable to keep my face from showing my annoyance. "Wonder where he got that from?"

"I don't know what you're trying to insinuate, Miss Pryde, but Scott Summers does not answer to me. He is ever loyal to Xavier."

I can't help but roll my eyes as I walk past Emma into the locker rooms. Several students that I don't recognize are getting changed for their Danger Room sessions. I reach inside the locker I'd been allotted and grabbed my clothes, pulling them out and putting them on before phasing out of the training uniform.

"Neat trick." I turn and come face-to-face with Illyana. She laughs when I jump in surprise. "Nice to know I still have that effect on people."

"Right. Should have expected someone to sneak up behind me. After all, this is a locker room, which is mostly public and… locker-y. Plenty of hiding spaces in here." Great, I'm starting to sound like Willow.

Illyana laughs, tucking a lock of golden hair behind her ear. "Well, I just wanted to apologize for how cold I acted when we met. I was stressed."

"I totally get that. Missions are stressful, no matter how small they are."

She nods. "I, uh, saw you in the Danger Room. You're better than they give you credit for. At least, that's what I think."

I roll my eyes at that. "They don't give me credit because they don't believe that I've been an X-Man since I was thirteen."

"Since thirteen? Really? They won't let us be_real_ X-Men until we're at least twenty."

Now it's my turn to laugh. "When Xavier tried to push that on me, I simply reminded him that I was already a member of the X-Men, whether he liked it or not. I doubt that'd work in your case, though, Illyana."

"Yeah, probably not." Illyana glances at her watch. "Say, you wanna go get some lunch? I'd really like to hear about your time with the X-Men."

I can't help but smile. "Sure. So long as you don't mind Lockheed stealing bits of your food."

* * *

�

"So Frosty actually makes you guys sit in a blow-up little kid's room that was programmed into the Danger Room?" Rahne Sinclair, also known as Wolfsbane, leans back in her chair, laughing.

"That's right. She basically tells us we're all children and she's the only adult on the team." I roll my eyes at this, just like I had then. "Turns out, Wolvie was trying to make sure Hank didn't go and do something stupid with the so-called 'cure.'"

"And why in the world would I do something stupid with this 'cure'?"

I jump and phase through my chair as I turn around. Dr. Hank McCoy, all blue and furry, stood behind me. He didn't have the feline features I was used to, but it was still Hank. "I, uh… I don't think I can tell you that," I stammer.

Hank nods. "I see. Miss. Pryde, if I could have a moment?"

I nod, turning back to Illyana's gang. "I'll talk to you guys later, 'kay?" There was a round of "bye"s and "later"s from the group as I head off with Hank. He leads me to the staff elevator, which I knew led to the basement lab. "So, Hank, what's this all about?"

"I'd like to talk to you about Kat's mutation."

"What about it? I know she sheds diamonds when she sweats and can create objects with said diamonds, what else is there?"

"If you'll take a look at my findings –" Hank leads me to a bank of computer monitors. On them were strands of DNA.

I recognize a baseline human DNA strand and the mutant DNA strand, but… the last one was a mystery. There were four helixes. Four helixes and a ton of little spikes, I assumed those were amino acids, sticking out all over the place. "What in the world?"

"What you see before you are samples of baseline human DNA, mutant DNA, and Kat's DNA." Hank points to each of the images in turn. "As you can see, Kat's DNA is mutated further than even our own DNA."

"But how… this isn't even possible." I turn so I'm facing Hank, extremely confused.

"Some say that Mutant DNA is impossible, and yet here we are. Kat… is an extreme abnormality. I've never seen anything like this." He cleans his glasses on the hem of his lab coat, recalling an image of Giles.

"Have you ever seen Slayer DNA?"

* * *

�

"So… I have no idea what could have caused this."

"Nor do I, Miss Pryde." Hank leans back slightly, staring at the screens. "You said that the Slayer is of mystical origin?"

"Yes, but that shouldn't do anything to the DNA." I lean over the control-panel, careful not to touch it because I'm half phased.

"I agree. Yet, there it is."

"I have to call Willow. She'll have an explanation." I say a hurried goodbye to Hank and all but run to the room I'd been given. I seriously walk through pretty much everything in my way, which I hardly ever do; I was in such a hurry.

I dial Willow and Kennedy's number by heart and waited impatiently for one of them to pick up.

"Hey, you've reached Willow and Kennedy, leave a message and we'll get back to you Asap." Just my luck, neither of them are home, or at least not picking up.

"Willow, it's Kitty. I've got something I need you to look at. Like, really, really need to look at. Call me soon, Kennedy's got my number. Bye."

Now all I have to do was wait.


	7. DNA

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter Eleven: DNA

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or the X-Men. Get over it.

Author's Note: I know nothing about DNA except that human DNA has two helixes. Please excuse the incorrect and improper DNA talk.

A tinny rendition of the _Charmed_ theme rips through the air. I flip my phone open immediately. "Willow!"

"No, but good guess," Kennedy's voice came over the phone. "Will's got some magic system-thing to find where you are. You someplace she can teleport us to?"

"Um?" I glance around my guestroom. "Sure. I'll have to apologize to the X-Men about bringing someone in unannounced. But yeah, I'm good."

"Okay. I'd stand against a wall if I were you." She hangs up and I have about a minute to back myself against a wall before a flash of green light blinds me. "Hey, Kitty. 'Sup?"

"Hi, Kitty. Hope you don't mind that I brought Kennedy along." Willow grins at me, green eyes sparkling.

I cough, having breathed in the sage-scented smoke that had accompanied their teleportation. "No problem, Willow."

"Okay, so, urgent things you needed me to see?"

"Yeah, they're in Hank's lab. We weren't exactly expecting you to pop in like this." I cross the room to the door. "Come on."

I was just my luck that Emma waylays us on our way to the lab. "Miss Pryde, I wasn't aware tat you had guests. I don't seem to remember your guests being cleared to come on campus."

"So long as they don't start yelling anti-Mutant sentiments, it really doesn't matter, Frost. Besides, they're actually here to see Hank, not me."

"Regardless, Miss Pryde, your guests need to check in with the front desk."

"Working on it. As you can see – "

"Miss Frost," Willow interrupts. "I'm Willow Rosenburg of the Watcher's Council in Cleveland. This is my partner, Kennedy. There are actually several reasons we're here. First and foremost, we need to see this Hank person. We weren't aware of the rules you have in place for the safety of your students. We were just on our way to the front desk."

Emma blinks, focusing on Willow. I won't pretend to know how to read Emma, but I swear she looks surprised. Her brow furrows just a bit and she nods as Willow smiles sweetly. "Well, in that case, I suppose I can let you off the hook just this once." Emma shoots me a glare before walking off.

"How did you do that?" I ask, absolutely amazed.

Willow's grin widens. "Magic."

* * *

�

"Okay. So, what am I looking at here?" Willow asks, studying the computer screens in Hank's lab.

"The first image is human DNA. Double helix," Hank replies, typing on his modified keyboard. "The next is Mutant DNA, taken from myself."

Willow nods. "Triple-helix. I thought the Mutant part of Mutants was only in the genes."

"That's what we originally thought. We actually were only studying the genes until recently. As you can see, the Mutant X-gene has affected our DNA as well."

"Do you understand a word they're saying?" Kennedy asks, nudging me.

"I get it on a very basic level. The pictures help." I lean back against one of the few empty lab tables, feeling much calmer now that Willow and Kennedy are here.

"Okay, now this is the sample I took from Kat." Hank keys up the image of Kat's DNA.

Willow's eyes widen. "Four helixes? Why does it look like that?"

"Well, I've only been working on this problem for a few hours. All I've come up with so far is that the amino acids aren't lining up correctly. At the same time, Kat doesn't appear to be having difficulties. It seems as though she's a mutated Mutant, but those unpaired amino acids should be giving her specialized difficulties. Besides that, I an mutated beyond my original mutation myself and my DNA doesn't look similar to Kat's."

"Mr. McCoy, I'm by no means an expert in DNA, any biology, really. Have you tried stringing a few strands together? Maybe they fit together like… like a puzzle."

"Would it help to look at normal Slayer DNA?" I ask.

"I could try both. Granted, that means a bit more work." Hank grins at his understatement, showing fangs.

"Workaholic," Kennedy mutters good-naturedly with a grin. "You've got human DNA, Mutant DNA, Mutant/Slayer DNA, and Slayer DNA. I'm thinkin' you're going to want Demon DNA next."

Hank's yellow eyes shine. "Demon? You could get me demon DNA?"


	8. Mutant Slayers

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Title: Intricate: Kitty's Story

Author: Felidae Silvestris

Chapter: Mutant Slayers

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or the X-Men. Get over it.

"Okay, so we need to do blood tests on all the girls here. Weed out the Slayers and send them to Cleveland." Willow snags a slice of pizza from the open box in front of us.

"What about the Mutant Slayers? The Council isn't equipped to train them properly," I point out as I toss a few pieces of sausage in Lockheed's direction. "We got lucky with Kat. Her powers aren't overly wild or destructive."

"How's she doing, by the way?" Kennedy asks around her eighth slice of pizza.

"She's having a hard time getting free time to find those Slayers Giles wants her to find. But anyway, I think maybe assigning some more experienced Slayers and Watchers here would be easier than trying to train Mutant Slayers back at The Council."

Willow nods, chewing pensively. "We'd have to okay that with Buffy and Giles. I think it would work."

"How many different powers are we talking about here, anyway?" Kennedy asks.

I shrug. "Most likely, the number of powers will be the same as the number of girls. We might have some girls with similar powers, but they're almost never the same."

"What makes this place so good for training anyway?"

"The Danger Room," I immediately reply. "Among other things, of course."

"Would Andrew say the same?" Willow asks. "He seems to know an awful lot about this place and the people in it."

"Yeah, I noticed that. I don't know why I didn't think of it when I first appeared at Buffy's."

"The Geek's probably a Mutant or something. Telepath, maybe." Kennedy grabs another slice of pizza.

I shake my head as I toss a slice of pizza in Lockheed's direction. "My shields are too good for him to be a telepath. We'll have to have him tested, same as the girls. You know it just hit me that we'll have to test _all_ the girls here for real. God, Hank's going to be up to his whiskers in work."

"Dr. McCoy doesn't have whiskers," Willow points out with a grin.

"My Hank has whiskers."

* * *

"Let me get this straight. You want to bring in base-line humans to train a group of our girls. You want to bring in a group of potential Mutantphobic humans to work in an all-Mutant environment. Am I getting this right, Miss Pryde?" Emma sat calmly behind her desk, icy eyes trained on Willow and I as her manicured fingernails tap slowly on her notepad.

"They wouldn't be Mutantphobic, Miss Frost," I reply, trying to keep myself from snarling.

"You don't even have proof that our girls are Slayers."

"Dr. McCoy already agreed to do the blood tests on the girls," Willow points out. "Once the tests are done, we'll have the proof we need. Kitty assures us you have the best possible training environment for our Slayers."

"What do your associates have to say about this arrangement, Miss Rosenburg?" Xavier asks, facial expression pensive.

"Well, I only got a chance to talk to Giles last night, but he seems to think this could be a mutually beneficial arrangement. We don't want to take over your facilities, Professor. All we want is to make sure that those girls who are Slayers are made aware of what they are and trained as such."

"Trained to kill Vampires and Demons, as I understand it."

"Well, yes. That's what Slayers do."

"We don't kill here, Miss Rosenburg, for any reason."

"We train our students to merely apprehend the wrong-doers," Emma interjects. "Deadly force is not an option we advocate here."

"We understand that, Miss Frost. Believe me, we do." Willow glances at me nervously. "But the thing is, well, vampires aren't human or Mutant, even though they used to be. They're soulless beings – most of them anyway – that kill indiscriminately and often for no reason."

"Most of them, Miss Rosenburg?"

"Spike and Angel," I explain quickly. "The only two vampires who have souls. Angel's soul was placed upon him as the result of a curse. Spike –"

"Spike went looking for his," Willow adds. "But he's dead now. He died destroying the Sunnydale Hellmouth."

"I see. Well, the Professor and I will discuss this matter and get back to you." Emma stood, stepping around her desk. "Thank you for your lovely presentation, Miss Rosenburg." She took Willow's arm and steered her toward the door. I follow; wondering what Emma's up to. She's always up to something. Emma pretty much pushed the pair of us into the hallway with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Thank you again, Miss Rosenburg. Miss Pryde."

"How'd it go?" Kennedy asks as soon as Emma shuts the door.

"As well as could be expected considering we had to talk to the Ice Queen."


End file.
